STORRS >> They were banned from the postseason this year, yet under their energetic new head coach they rallied, went out and played hard and for pride -- and beat Michigan State in the process.

But enough about the Ohio State football team.

Indeed, if the Buckeyes' fate this season sounds familiar, it's because they were in largely the same situation that the UConn men's basketball team currently finds itself in. Ohio State was banned from postseason bowls this year as a result of a scandal involving improper player sales of memorabilia and players being paid by a booster to attend a charity event, among other infractions. Its popular, national championship-winning head coach, Jim Tressell, was fired as a result, replaced by Urban Meyer.

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Under Meyer, the Buckeyes went a perfect 12-0 and are currently ranked fourth in the AP Top 25 poll.

In case you haven't heard by now, UConn is banned from this postseason, as well, due to low Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores in recent years. Three-time national championship-winning coach Jim Calhoun wasn't fired because of it, but elected to retire this past fall for a variety of other reasons. He was replaced by Kevin Ollie, who's got the Huskies at 6-1 and just outside the Top 25 right now.

Not surprisingly, UConn players and coaches have kept an eye on OSU from a distance and drawn some inspiration from it.

"I knew going into the football season, they got banned from the postseason," Ryan Boatright said. "Then, they came out and had a spectacular year. I was like, 'Why can't that be us?' They made a lot of people mad that they came out and did what they did, went undefeated. Even though we've lost one game, we can still have a great and successful season and move on to the next year."

When Ollie was asked about similarities between his team and the Buckeyes, a wry smile spread across his face before he replied, "We're not undefeated, so ..."

But he gets the analogy, not only with OSU but other schools that have overcome adversity to play for not much more than pride.

"Penn State is another one," he pointed out. "They rallied around themselves, they wouldn't fall for the distractions. I always say, 'You can see an excuse, but you don't have to pick it up.' They didn't pick it up, they kept moving forward, and they did a great job. Their coaching staff did a great job of preparing them each and every game. I see our guys playing, rallying. There's going to be some up's and down's, I really know that. We've just got to respond the right way, and hopefully we'll continue to do that."

So far, so good, though early on, the Huskies have shown a tendency to play up or down to their level of competition -- something you wouldn't expect from an Ollie-led team.

UConn's season-opening win over No. 13 Michigan State in Germany was an eye-opener, and when the entire team gathered behind Ollie while he was being interviewed by ESPN after the game, it appeared this team was on a one-for-all, all-for-one mission.

Since then, however, the Huskies have struggled to beat lesser foes like Quinnipiac (double overtime), Stony Brook and New Hampshire. They played pretty well in a 66-60 loss to No. 25 New Mexico.

"Whatever competition we play, I feel like that's how we come out," Boatright noted. "If we're not playing a known team or a ranked team, we come out real flat, like a dog. When we're playing a good team, like Michigan State, we came out on fire. As the season goes on, we're going to learn to play the same way all the time. We just have a young team."

Certainly, the Huskies need to play up to their competition on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against No. 18 NC State.

"NC State's a great team," Boatright pointed out. "They're athletic, they've got the size, they've got a good point guard, C.J. Leslie's a great player. And, it's in the Garden. Being in New York, period, is going to up your enthusiasm. We've got to up the intensity, or we're going to get embarrassed."